Severitus. Set after OotP. Harry isn't as sweet and innocent as we always thought. Snape has the perfect family. How will Harry fit in when he finds out Snape is his father, and more importantly, will any of them want him too? Will contain Slash.

Hey
people, sorry about the mass amount of time between updates, I kinda
got REALLY sick, like hospitalized sick, for agesssss. Took like 2
months off work and school, and then spent another 2 month attempting
to catch up with it all while still being sick, they had just found a
combination of drugs that were good enough to let me keep going in
life… it was a truly fun time in my life!

It
was the next morning as the family finished eating breakfast that
Harry dropped his next bombshell. Sitting over the breakfast table he
calmly announced that he had spoken to his Uncle in Motobo and would
be leaving after lunch that very day.

Draco
merely stared wide-eyed as he felt the level of tension in the dining
room sky rocketed with that simple revelation. Alex sure knew how to
get his godfather's attention.

Severus
seemed to be trying to regain the ability to speak following the
demonstration of the unlikely act of swallowing his own tongue. Who
knew 'the great bat' had the ability to make that rather
interesting face.

Cassi
was just as shocked as her husband but at least had the piece of mind
to attempt to maintain some level of calm. Cassi knew her husband,
and she knew that he was not going to handle this sudden declaration
calmly. Cassi was also growing to know her eldest son, and she knew
that any overt demonstration by his father suggesting that he had
some right to Harry's life would not go over well.

Tainen
always seemed to miss the good stuff- ah well, to be young!

"WHAT?!"
It was occurring to Harry that Snape tended to react to shock in only
one way when dealing with Harry- a hastily yelled 'WHAT'. It
amused him that he was what messed with the ice-cold spy's cool so
easily.

"What
'what'? My Uncle wants me to come home. Holidays are over in a
few weeks and he feels it is important that I see the rest of my
family before school starts again. It's not like this seriously
messes with any plans. I mean, don't you and Draco both have to
return to Hogwarts, like, tomorrow or something? Tainen's summer
schedule will be up soon and he will be returning with Cassi to his
kiddie group. My leaving now is not pivotal." Harry managed to
maintain a sneer and a patented eye brow raise which in combination
seemed to suggest that any idiot knows these things and why was
Severus asking such stupid questions.

With
that said Harry inclined his head to the rest of the table in goodbye
and left, he had deliberately left that announcement till after
breakfast so there was no impediment to his hasty departure following
his announcement. A strategic retreat, as it were.

It
was no surprise to Harry when he heard the knock on his door not 15
minutes later. His money was on it being lovely peace-keeper Cassi,
so it was a surprise when he opened the door to find Draco standing
somewhat nervously on the other side.

"Well,
I like keeping people on their toes. 'Sides, what did I say that
wasn't true? And I think my Uncle has been very generous in letting
me stay here. He does have custody of me, he knew how my mother felt
about my father, and he just doesn't like him on principle. But
when I decided I wanted to come here, he let me."

"Why
did you decide to come here?" Draco hadn't realized that his
brother might take that statement wrong until he saw him grimace at
it. "I mean, you said it yourself that you two never really got
along, that you had never before even stayed overnight, you don't
seem to be reaching out to Sev, so I don't think you came here to
finally get to know your father or anything like that, so, why?"
Draco hastened to explain his earlier statement.

Alex
paused for a second, like he was trying to figure it out himself.
"Tainen is getting older now, he… I want him to know his big
brother. I want to be a part of his life and if, to do that, that
means staying with my father, spending time with him, then I am
prepared to do that." With that Harry slammed his trunk shut, "now
if you'll excuse me, I guess I better go deal with this…"

It
didn't take Harry long to find Severus, he was sitting in his study
working on some form of paper work, studiously ignoring his eldest
son when he entered the room though it was obvious he knew Harry was
there by the force with which he seemed to be slamming the papers
around on his desk.

"It
is logical, sir. You and Draco are both gone tomorrow, this allows me
to leave at the same time without it in anyway being suspicious, and
also, I always spend the night before we return to Hogwarts with the
Weasley's."

Severus
knew what his son was saying made sense, but that didn't stop him
from wanting his son to leave for school from his home. He knew that
with Draco there it was extremely impractical, but he wanted that
last second scrounge to make sure everything was packed, that nothing
had been forgotten, he wanted to experience it. Although, with the
care Harry took to always remain ready packed he supposed there would
be no last minute scrounge with his son.

"I
realize all this, and you are right, it is practical." It was
obvious that a 'but…' of some variety was coming and Harry had
no desire to hear it.

Harry
was therefore quick to jump in before Severus had a chance to begin
his next sentence. "Great, so I'll see you for lunch and
afterwards I'll be off." Harry wanted to leave things there, this
seemed like the perfect moment to end the conversation but, alas,
there was still business to discuss. "We should perhaps discuss
school, sir. It would not be good for your health to in any way alter
your behavior toward me, that being said we need to maintain the
behavior toward each other of previous years."

Already
Severus was missing the 'Daddy dearests' and 'Father mines'
of the past few weeks, despite the fact that Harry had always
maintained a slightly sarcastic tone when calling him that, it was by
far better then calling him 'sir'.

Again,
he knew his son was right, but that didn't help at all. In fact, he
rather wished his son were just a little less right all the time. He
always had a read on any situation and a logical course of action to
handle it. It was infuriating, because the logical course of action
was rarely the course that gave Severus what he wanted.

He
had taken too long to think about it, because Harry was already
heading out the door having made some cursory goodbye.

Harry
to-do list seemed to shrinking rapidly today, only one thing to go
Harry supposed. Draco had been easy, Sev had been in too much shock
to prove difficult (and Harry really hoped to be gone by the time
that changed), packing was no problem, Tainen was really too young to
understand so that would only take a few moments, all that left was
Cassi.

It
hadn't taken Harry long to start genuinely liking his 'dreaded
step-mother'. She was nice, always tried to keep the peace, never
pushed, and Harry could tell that she was really trying. He
appreciated that, appreciated that he wasn't easy, that suddenly
finding out you had a step-son, and one like him to boot, can't
have been easy, and yet she never complained, never made him feel
awkward or unwelcome. She welcomed him into her home with open arms,
she even made him feel like she wanted him there.

He
found her outside watching over Tainen as he played some intricate
game that seemed to involve hiding between bushes in the garden.

"Cassi?"

"I
knew you'd be leaving soon anyway. Just… promise to keep in
touch, that we can at least talk about you staying here next summer,
maybe even negotiate about possible Christmas visitation?"

They
exchanged small smiles, they understood each other.

"If
you need to contact me during the school year, use an owl that won't
be recognized by anyone, even Malfoy who probably knows your family
owls well. I'll keep in touch, can't be letting him forget me
now." Harry indicated Tainen. "You know I don't plan ahead so
Christmas is not even a conversation yet." He looked her right in
the eyes, "It's been real Cassi, thanks."

They
both knew he what he was talking about, both knew that it was the
closest to gushing he was ever likely to get, she knew he meant it
and it was enough for her. She didn't even comment when he beat a
hasty retreat in the form of heading over to Tainen. It was still an
hour till lunch and he was ready, may as well spend the rest of the
day with his brother.

Lunch
was a quite affair, there was no gushing, no sudden emotional
displays, they ate and afterwards simple goodbyes were said. Harry
hugged Cassi and Tainen, shook hands with Draco, explaining that it
was best to contact him by sending letters to Cassi and that she
would send them on if he were so inclined, then came time to say
goodbye to Severus.

"Well,
ah, see ya…" and he was gone, up the stairs to grab his trunk
before taking the port-key Charlie had made for him during his visit,
to the Weasley Home.

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